Help me understand you
by Nayukuo
Summary: Sasuke and Naruto have ended the day in a fight. As usal. But what is somebody decides Sasuke needs to learn that Naruto has suffered to? Is Sasuke spends one day as Naruto when he was child can he finaly understand?


**Authors note: ****Unortunely I do not own any of the Naruto characters – Yet – Also I have no proof that Naruto was living in an orphanage when he was little but as no one seems to no where he lived when he was younger we'll just have to go with this!**

**Also you're going have to excuse my spelling. I'm not all that great with that stuff! **

"LOSER!"

"SHOW OFF!"

"IDIOT!"

"DUMB ASS!"

"DOBE!"

"GAAAAAAAH! THAT'S IT SASUKE! YOU"VE HAD IT!"

Unconcerned, Sasuke turned his back to the fuming yellow haired shinobi, his blood racing through his veins as he struggled to remain calm.

"Please, you two. Don't fight." Sakura pleaded, hesitantly reaching one hand to where the two ninja stood back to back.

Sasuke turned and glared at the pink haired kunochi.

Ignoring Sakura as her eyes brimmed with tears Sasuke faced Naruto. "You ignorant loser, you have no idea what its like to suffer." He said coolly.

The effect was almost instantaneous. Naruto's anger seemed to evaporate and his expression slipped from anger to that of misery.

Without waiting the Uchiha turned away and followed the path home, completely oblivious to the figure lurking in the trees above his head.

"_That__ smart mouthed kid should be taught a lesson…"_

"_Sasuke…"_

Drip, drip, drip…

"_You have no idea what its like to suffer!"_

Drip, drip, drip…

_Sasuke stared in astonishment at the bright haired little boy crying in front of him, the kids badly muffled sniffles echoing in the pitch blackness._

Drip, drip, drip…

_The child's tears formed a puddle at his feet, trickling over the whisker like marks on his cheeks._

Drip, drip, drip…

_The sound of the tears falling beat out a rhythm in Sasuke's head. Sniffle, drip drip drip, Sniffle._

Drip, drip, drip…

"_You have no idea what it's like to suffer!"_

SUFFER! SUFFER! SUFFER!

_The last word of the sentence echoed promently._

Drip, drip, drip…

_SUFFER!_

"Gah!"

Sasuke bolted up in bed, the sheets bunching around his waist as he took a few deep breaths.

_Just a dream… No need to get so worked up… _He reminded himself. With a sigh he pushed the sheets back and swung his legs over the edge of his bed.

"Eh?"

Sasuke blinked. He could have sworn he had worn his usual pajamas to bed the previous night, not these worn out black pants.

It was only when a cloud passed by, setting the sun free and allowing a few strangled beams to spill out onto the bed that Sasuke saw that his preference his pajama bottoms weren't the only thing that had seemed to change.

His usually waxy white skin was a tanned brown and his hands were much smaller than that of a twelve year old.

Panic rising in his chest he flung himself around and caught sight of his reflection in a grimy window.

Where there should have been unblemished cheeks there were whisker like marks and his brooding dark eyes seemed to have turned a wide sky blue, full of the same pain and misery they had always been, his purple-black hair a bright and feverish yellow. There was no mistaking the person in the reflection. It was a younger and much more depressed Naruto.

"What means of jutsu is this!" Sasuke/Naruto hissed.

"Oh, you're up."

Sasuke spun around to see a women towering over his eight year old body, wrinkling her nose with distaste and looking like she would love to be anywhere but there.

"The other children got up almost an hour ago, Naruto. Go have some breakfast, get. Filthy monster." She spat backing up and leaving the room.

Sasuke stared blankly after her. For the life of him he could not understand what Naruto had done to be called a filthy monster.

Unsure what to do but unable to do nothing Sasuke laced Naruto's tanned fingers together.

"Release!" he cried to no avail. He was indisputably stuck as an eight year old Naruto for the time being.

Growling Sasuke ruffled through the small chest at the foot of Naruto's bed, unearthing the white top with the red swirl on it that Naruto had worn when younger as well as the frayed blue shorts.

Sasuke reluctantly pulled on the clothes and ventured out of the small room packed with mismatching beds.

_Naruto must have grown up in an orphanage…_

Outside the small room was a table full of hungry looking children laughing and fighting over food whilst a harassed looking woman tried in vain to quall the squabbles rising up around the table.

Sasuke's stomach growled and had he not lost the ability long ago he would have blushed.

Against his will Sasuke made to sit down at the table watching in surprise as every available seat was suddenly over taken, people spreading out along the wooden benches to make no room for Sasuke, glaring at him.

_I never realized Naruto had it s__o hard as a child… What could he have possibly done to deserve this? _Sasuke thought.

"Naruto, Call, you're going to be late for that ninja academy if you linger around the table." The harassed woman said, avoiding looking Sasuke.

"Mmh." Agreed a brown haired boy with wide green eyes that must be Call. He stuffed one last handful of nuts into his mouth and hoped down.

Unsure what he was meant to do Sasuke trailed after Call and discovered a small green backpack with the name NARUTO UZAMAKI printed clearly on the front.

Sasuke slipped it over his shoulders and followed Call out the door and into the leaf village, a perfect picture of what it has been four years ago.

Sasuke and Call walked through the village.

No matter where they walked people avoided and glared at Sasuke, whispering behind their hands like he couldn't see them.

" – He's the boy who -."

" – Always looks like he thinks his the top of the world -."

" – Makes me sick -."

"Filthy child."

"Urchin."

"Monster."

Sasuke directed his gaze to the ground and to his intense surprise felt tears welling in the corners of his eyes.

Amazed he raised a hand to his cheek and surreptitiously wiped them away.

_Amazing… I can't control what my body does. I haven't cried in __many years now…_

"Don't walk so close behind me! I don't want people to think I'm friends with you!" Sasuke looked up from the ground into Call's sneering face.

"I've told you before. Don't walk so close to me. Now, back off loser."

Sasuke's lower lip trembled in a perfect demonstration of how he couldn't control himself.

"Phhf. Gonna' cry again? You're such an over reactor. Go find some other people to hang out with."

Sasuke watched as Call quickened his pace leaving him standing alone in the centre of the road.

_What on earth happened, Naruto?_

Sasuke sank down on the hard wooden bench of the ninja training academy.

"Oh, Sasuke! You're so cool!"

Sasuke's head flicked up as an impulse as he heard his name being called. His mouth dropped open at what he saw.

Sitting across the room from him, head down, resting on interlaced fingers was himself as an eight year old, surrounded by a gaggle of his usual fan girls.

Sasuke watched his eight year old self turn his head slightly and catch him looking.

Intense hate flashed across his eyes and he turned away again.

_Am I really like that? _The confused Uchiha wondered.

Class started and Sasuke sat through a course of things he already knew as the Sensei wrote on the board in chalk and asked questions.

"Naruto, do you have an answer?"

It took a moment for Sasuke to remember he was talking to him.

"Yes Sensei, thirteen."

"Your unusually alert today. Keep it up in you may stand a chance of graduating this time round. Maybe. Or not."

The entire class laughed and Sasuke lowered his gaze.

_I never realized Naruto had it so hard. Never. What has he done to deserve this??_

As if to partially answer his self asked question his hand involuntarily lifted and clutched at his chest.

Startled Sasuke promptly dropped his hand.

_What is it trying top tell me?_

Sasuke lowered his head to the desk, eyes fluttering closed, for the first time in history he drifted off to sleep in class.

_Monster._

_Evil._

_Rodent._

_Be gone__ Demon!_

_Sasuke watched as the young Naruto ran, tears streaming down his chin flying behind him in the darkness._

_Run… Run away… Never come back._

_As he watched Naruto tripped, sprawling face first on9 the blackness._

_One eyes half shut, tears still streaming down his face the young boy raised his face, one hand stretching towards the silhouettes of the people inhabiting Konoha._

_Monster._

_Evil._

_Rodent._

_Be gone__ Demon!_

_Naruto collapsed into a pile, shivering as a shape slowly formed behind him._

_Sasuke watching in amazement as it gradually took shape, whiskers, a black nose, blood thirsty eyes…_

"Gah!"

_Sasuke fell back as he realized what the __hideous shape was._

_The nine tailed fox's shape wavered and evaporated, the vapors drifting down into Naruto._

_Monster._

_Evil__._

_Rodent._

_DEMON!_

Sasuke sprang out of bed, landing with a bang on the hard wood floor of his little apartment, staring up at the ceiling, his breaths coming in ragged gasp.

With a low moan he placed a cool pale hand on the clammy skin of his forehead, his normal pajamas completely soaked in sweat.

_I think… I understand now… What it is Naruto is like he is. But I never would have guessed… Him being as happy as he is…His suffered so much, and none of it was his doing._

Sasuke shook his head. _Just a dream… No meaning to it. Doesn't mean any of it's true…_

The Uchiha climbed to his feet and stumbled over to his desk, lifting the glass of water to his mouth he took a gulp.

"Huh?"  
For the first time he noticed a small folded piece of paper on his desk.

Distracted, he set the glass down, half the water sloshing over the edges and onto his hands.

Completely oblivious he unfolded the piece of paper.

Upon reading the words his hand began to shake and the flimsy piece of paper slipped from his hand, his sight blurring he stumbled backwards and collapsed onto his bed.

Outside the window a figure with long silver hair smiled slightly.

"_Are you sure that was such a good idea? Shouldn't Naruto have a say in what the rest of the children of Konoha thinks? I also thought it was expressively forbidden by the third to tell anyone of the secrete?"_

The figure smiled slightly, closing his eyes.

"_In this case Gai, I think we can make an exception."_

Don't under underestimate dreams, kid.

They can mean more than words.

The sunin Jiraiya's hand writing glimmered in the moonlight.

**Authors Note: Don't as me why Gai was with Jiraiya. He just was.**


End file.
